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After two friends are murdered, Inspector Henri Castang of the Brussels police force retires with his wife to a villa they inherited on the Biarritz. But the placidity of semi-rural life is short-lived. Before time and retirement dull his sharp edge, Castang's young granddaughter is kidnapped and the sinister real estate mogul who has been lurking around Castang's property becomes the suspect. Inspector Castang has been entertaining Nicholas Freeling's readers for years with his lightning-fast intelligence and finely honed, facetious wit. He is in perfect form in this installment of the series.
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From Publishers Weekly
Gold Dagger and Edgar winner (for The King of Rainy Country), Freeling offers readers an example of his best work in the final appearance of Brussels police inspector Henri Castang. After the brutal murder of old friends Gerald and Mathilde Gutierrez and the attempted rape of his wife, Vera, Castang declares "End of Watch" and retires. Traveling to Biarritz, he and Vera visit Adrien Richard, Castang's former chief who is dying of cancer. Richard unexpectedly bequeaths his cliff-top home to Vera. Their decision to keep the house runs them afoul of the dwarves of the title. These are, in Castang's lexicon, those with such influence at high levels of society and government that only a word from them can cause an "absence of zeal" in investigations that might reveal their activities. When Castang's granddaughter is kidnapped, he becomes convinced that "dwarfish greed for dwarfgold" is behind the disappearance: their cliff-top property is the last link in a large land development deal. The lack of initiative on the part of the authorities convinces him that the kidnapper is someone prominent in Biarritz. Castang turns to a subversive group fighting against "inhuman cruelties and naked, cynical exploitation" for help. Capping a series of 25 years, this tale confirms Freeling's mastery of character and imagery in a superlative study of people and power.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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